1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to digital rights management (DRM). More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a secure system time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital multimedia contents have gained wide acceptance in the public. As such, many consumers and businesses have digital media systems that enable the reception of such digital multimedia contents via various communication channels, e.g., via a wireless link such as a satellite link or a wired link such as cable connections and/or telephony based connections such as DSL and the like.
Irrespective of the communication channels that are employed to receive the digital multimedia contents, owners of multimedia contents and the service providers (e.g., a cable service provider, a telecommunication service provider, a satellite-based service provider) who provide such multimedia contents to subscribers are concerned with the protection of such digital multimedia contents. To illustrate, a service provider may receive a request from a subscriber to download a movie for viewing for a given period of time. This business arrangement is similar to going to a video store to rent the movie for a given period of time. Unlike the video store approach, the service provider can simply provide the requested movie electronically to a receiver of the subscriber for the requested period of time. Unlike the video store approach, the service provider does not need the subscriber to return the movie. However, the service provider does not want the subscriber to have the ability to view the movie after the given period of time has expired. As such, the notion of system time is one aspect that needs to be carefully defined and protected.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for providing a secured system time.